1 November 2010

Ordinariate News

A fine article by Bishop Peter Elliott, ex-S Stephen's House, Delegate in Australia for the Ordinariate.

It was published ten days ago in a TAC periodical down in Oz, The Messenger Journal.

"To establish the Ordinariates, two stages are envisaged next year: 1. the reconciliation and reordination of clergy who have applied for Orders in the Ordinariate and been accepted, then 2. at a later date, the first reconciliations of the lay faithful. The clergy will therefore be in place to welcome and minister to former Anglicans ... "

Let's hope he's got it right. The process he describes is so totally logical and pastoral. It would be a shame if something confused, illogical, and unpastoral were substituted for it. But of course, whatever Cardinal Levada says ...

3 comments:

Bp Elliott is indeed excellent. He is the Australian liaison for incoming Anglicans, and I hear is more than helpful in every respect. Having worked in the curia, having been the son of a vicar, he understands both sides.

Of course, as well as being a theological expert he is also expert in both forms of the one Roman Rite: this Sunday just passed he came up to Bendigo Cathedral and sang Pontifical Mass at the faldstool for the end of the Christus Rex Pilgrimage here in Australia; and preached a hard-hitting sermon against the errors of the age.

A footnote: I am informed that his nickname, as an Anglican student at Trinity College, Melbourne, was "Naples" - and why? "because he was the nearest thing to Rome".

He was received into the Catholic Church while at Oxford, where he was friends with a certain young Fr George Pell, then doing his doctorate.

I think you will find that the answer from Rome has been that these incoming Anglicans should continue with their prayers and rites until they are formally received.

Remember, the Church does not presume to say that their rites and orders are certainly invalid (since the Dutch Touch and all that has made the strong ruling of Leo XIII somewhat outdated), only that, from a Catholic viewpoint, the Church cannot be certain that they are valid, and therefore, once such persons enter into Catholic unity, their clergy would need to be ordained for the avoidance of all doubt.

Obviously, for the time between the reception and ordination of, say, Fr H., and the reception and confirmation of the congregation of, say, St Thos. the Martyr, the good people of that church would attend his Masses for a few weeks without communicating. Going on what I know of in regard to an ex-Lutheran friend, however, any Catholic priest could certainly hear the confessions of these about-to-be-received parishioners in the meanwhile, so they would be ready for their public reception into the Church.

Fr John Hunwicke

was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies, been a Parish Priest, and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. He is now incardinated into the Personal Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham. The opinions expressed on this Blog are not asserted as being those of the Magisterium of the Church, but as the writer's opinions as a private individual. Nevertheless, the writer strives, hopes, and prays that the views he expresses are conformable with and supportive of the Magisterium. Nothing on this site is to be taken as representing the views of the Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham, of its Ordinary, or of any part of it.